Generality
Heterologous fertilization is a medically assisted procreation (MAP) technique, aimed at conception in situations of proven infertility. This method allows, therefore, to help couples who are unable spontaneously to become pregnant.
In heterologous fertilization, the male sperm or female egg does not belong to one of the parents, but comes from an external donor.
The use of this practice is indicated by doctors in cases in which the absolute infertility of at least one of the two partners is found or when spontaneous procreation with homologous gametes (ie coming from the members of the couple) is considered an extremely remote occurrence.
Heterologous fertilization uses different types of techniques, which involve the manipulation of female gametes (oocytes), male (spermatozoa) or embryos in the context of a therapeutic path.
The procedures used are three, distinguished on the basis of complexity and degree of invasiveness:
- The first level methods are characterized by the fact that fertilization takes place directly inside the female genital apparatus;
- The second and third level techniques, on the other hand, are more complex and invasive, and require fertilization to take place first in vitro.
To embark on the path of heterologous fertilization, the first step is a medical visit to a specialist from the PMA center, who will assess the couple's state of health. The doctor then meets the two patients and draws up an anamnesis on the basis of their clinical history, then establishes whether there are solvable problems, before recommending the most suitable heterologous fertilization process for resolving the reproductive problem.
What's this?
Heterologous fertilization is an assisted procreation technique that uses gametes (oocytes and / or spermatozoa) from a donor and / or from a donor outside the couple.
In Italy, the use of this technique is legitimate (as indicated by the sentence 162/2014 of the Constitutional Court) in cases where there are no other effective therapeutic methods to resolve the causes of infertility of one of the two parents.
Heterologous fertilization makes use of different types of techniques, which involve the manipulation of oocytes, spermatozoa or embryos as part of a process aimed at becoming pregnant.
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